ᵖʳᵒᵘᵈ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter 21 - Making the Right Call

Jock Tamson limped his way along the dark corridor, deliberately forgoing the aid of a lumos charm. Jock knew there were dementors on patrol, and that his medallion bestowed total protection from the soul-sucking monsters on the wearer, therefore he had no wish to cast a charm that lit the corridor and allowed him see the vile creatures floating past. Why invite real nightmares into your life when you didn't have to? Out of sight was out of mind as far as Jock was concerned. The person he was looking for would certainly have his wand lit, making it easier to locate him from his own self imposed blackout. That prick Carrick - for all of his bravado and boastfulness - was afraid of the dark.

After four and a half years of serving as a guard in Azkaban, Jock was well used to this somewhat unusual working environment. He'd volunteered to go looking for Donald when the Minister's nephew had missed his check-in - not from any sense of suck-up, friendship or duty - but simply because Jock was crap at playing cards. The stakes may only be a few knuts but, when you lost almost every hand, the amount of cash he continually pushed across the table towards Billy or Martin soon began to accumulate.

His limp didn't slow him down too much, though certainly enough to see Jock being forced to change his career path from auror to prison guard. He could certainly spin a good story to the ladies about how getting injured in the line of duty ended Jock's glory days as an auror. He'd told so many different variations of the pivotal incident in his life that the truth - getting his knee accidentally blasted to pieces during his auror training - was almost completely forgotten.

That one incident had painfully and graphically illustrated to Jock that being an auror was not a future he should continue coveting, even if he physically still could. Instead he had gratefully accepted the Ministry's apologies, a small monetary compensation, and their offer of alternative employment. Whilst not everyone's idea of a dream job, Jock was certain this was a far safer occupation than being an auror. Jock was also certain that he'd found a job for life in Azkaban, something quite hard to come by in these unprecedented times of change.

A curse shooting out of the darkness slammed into Jock before he even had time to think about reacting, far less actually do anything. His last thoughts as he lay dying in the dark corridor were that at least he'd been partially correct. This had been a job for life, albeit a much shorter lifespan than he'd ever imagined. Nimble fingers soon had Jock's wand fished from his pocket. He was thankfully dead by the time his now bloody protection medallion was removed. Being deceased, the dementors would simply ignore his body.

Hearing the door open behind him, Billy threw his cards on the table - conceding this hand to Martin. "I'm glad you're both back..." A curse blasting a hole you could put your hand - still holding cards too - through in Martin's chest had Billy spinning around in his chair to see who the hell had just slaughtered his fellow guard. An astonished Billy found himself facing Death.

Bellatrix LeStrange standing there with a wand in her hand basically amounted to the same thing, and Bella almost instantly proved to the now terrified Azkaban guard that she was more than capable of living up to his rather morbid but totally accurate assessment of the situation.

-oOoOo-

Rodolphus greedily snatched at the medallion his wife passed through the bars of the cell door window. Just touching the wondrous object provided instantaneous relief from the soul-suckerers. He gazed adoringly through the tiny opening at his wonderful wife, only for her to once more blow his mind by offering three wands for him to choose the best match from.

Wearing the protection medallion and having a wand in his hand, Rodolphus stood taller than he had in years. Feeling like a wizard once more, he cast his first spell in over a decade. It might only be a simple unlocking charm but the loud click emitted from the mechanism was one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard. Rodolphus stepped from his cell to find his wife wrapped in the arms of another wizard, he instantly joined the family reunion.